


How To Fight Loneliness

by sinnamonstache (cinnamon_grump)



Category: jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, M/M, i guess?, karate au, probably leading to smut tbh.. will tag if it gets there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 16:10:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14168622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamon_grump/pseuds/sinnamonstache
Summary: [Literally fighting loneliness...]Jack looks into taking some self defense classes and finds himself immediately enamored with the instructor.





	How To Fight Loneliness

Jack had always been fairly confident in his ability to defend himself. But it had become very clear to him that said confidence was, in fact, the ignorance of never having needed to actually defend himself. After a little incident with some asshole in the parking lot of a bar, his brother (somewhat jokingly) suggested taking a self-defense class. Jack took that advice to heart, however, and decided to do a little research into it. Most of the places he found seemed either too up-tight, or had horrible reviews. There was one place though, a quaint little establishment with decent reviews.

The moment he walked through the doors he was fairly certain that he was going to love it. The first room inside the door was a little crowded by rows of chairs all facing a large window that looked in on the main room. On the other side of the glass stood a fairly large group of children on a brightly colored, padded floor. They were all lined up and standing at attention. Some of them seemed a little too small for their uniforms, the sleeves either dangling over their little hands or rolled up and out of the way. In front of them was a man in a bright red version of the uniform, the hair on top of his head nearly an identical shade of red.. He was turned away from Jack, making his way to and kneeling in front of each of the children to wrap little stripes of colored tape on the end of their belts. Jack stared, confused, until someone called out to him.

“Hey man, you interested in taking classes here or… just creeping?” A ridiculously tall man asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Jack felt his face turn bright red.

“Oh god, no I’m not creeping! Just confused. Um.. I was hoping to take a self-defense class..? Do you work here?” Jack realized he was beginning to ramble, which only served to make him feel more embarrassed. And now there were parents turned around in their chairs looking at him, probably judging him.

“Yeah I work here,” the guy answered, sticking out a hand for Jack to shake. “I’m Arin. I do desk work sometimes, so I can help you out.”

Jack quietly followed Arin into the small office off to the left from the entrance. There were windows on two sides, one looking out at the entrance where all the parents were sat watching their children, and one looking out at the main floor. There was one woman staring at him like she wanted to burn him at the stake and he desperately wished that there could be a wall between them instead of glass. Arin seemed unfazed by it and took his seat at the desk, rummaging through the cabinet to find some paperwork and price sheets.

“Okay, here’s the deal. You can try out the classes no cost for one week, and if you like it then you pay monthly to be a member. If you do that you get the gi, you can come on any day to the allotted adult class times, which are broken up into groups depending on your belt level. Obviously we don’t need blackbelts paired up with gold-belts, that would be insane. You also get sparring gear and all that jazz, and technically sparring is optional but it’s required once you get further into the belt levels.” He pauses too look up at Jack, tucking behind his ear a few strands of his hair that had flopped in front of his eyes. “Is this something you’re interested in?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

“Great. So uh, here’s the prices for membership.” He hands Jack the sheet of paper and glances out at the class through the window. “Looks like class is over. There’s like fifteen minutes before the next one starts, so if you want you can go do a little trial. It’ll be a lot easier to make a decision if you know what you’re getting into.”

Jack nods, folding up the paper Arin had handed him and tucking it away into his pocket. He didn’t want to look at the price yet lest it get to him. He peered through the window, finally catching sight of the instructor head on. His first thought was, simply, ' _oh shit.'_  The guy was gorgeous.

Jack tuned out for a moment while Arin and the instructor talked about him, just staring like a fool. Now, Jack was certainly not one to put any stock into the idea of love at first sight, but he sure as hell was feeling something. Crush at first sight, perhaps. Which was almost just as ridiculous because he didn’t even know the guy’s name yet.

“So,” he started, meeting Jack’s gaze. “You’re interested in taking classes here?”

Jack nodded, afraid that if he tried to speak his voice would betray him. The instructor smiled, flashing his pretty white teeth at Jack, and introduced himself as “Master Fischbach. But you can call me Mark when we’re not on the floor.”

If Jack were sitting down he would’ve been squirming in his seat. And as if that wasn’t already enough of an innuendo in and of itself, Mark winked at him, too. Jack realized he was probably supposed to introduce himself when the silence that followed seemed to stretch uncomfortably long. He cleared his throat and did his best to say his name without any ridiculous voice cracks.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jack. Do you have time to do the trial class now?” Jack nodded and Mark smiled, gesturing for him to follow. “Take off your shoes and we can start right away. We don’t want to hold up the next class.”

Jack scrambled to get out of his shoes and followed Mark out onto the matts. He started in right away with explaining how the classes work, then lead Jack through a few basic moves to get the gist of what kind of things he’ll be doing in-class. Jack was so focused on listening to Mark that he didn’t even realize there was a bit of a crowd gathering as the students lined up at the edge of the matts in anticipation of their class starting.

“Let’s see how your balance is.” Mark said as he stepped up beside Jack. He instructed Jack to lift one leg and hold it up, knee bent. Then to extend his leg. He did as he was told, wobbling slightly. Then Mark asked him to turn the foot on the ground and pull his knee closer to his chest, to try to make a “table” with his leg.

Jack began to lose his balance, flinging his arms out to the side to try to regain balance, and his fingers caught on Mark’s sleeve. Suddenly there was a hand on his back, steadying him, and he heard a quiet yelp escape past his own lips unwittingly. A few muffled chuckles sound from behind him and his face turned bright red as he looked up at the large mirror-wall across from himself for the first time and caught sight of the group of children standing there watching him.

“We’ll definitely have to work on balance.” Mark said, apparently oblivious to Jack’s embarrassment. He let Jack put his leg down. “Either way,” Mark said as he moved to stand in front of Jack. “At end of class you’ll line up with the rest of the class and bow out. That’s about it.”

“Don’t forget about the tape, though!” A squeaky voiced child called out. Jack looked to see them swinging on the railing between the matts and the changing rooms.

“He doesn’t have a belt yet, Casey. And you know you’re not supposed to play on there.”

Mark pointed a stern finger at the child, who frowned and plopped down onto the floor with a quiet “yes, sir.”

Mark lead Jack back into the office, where Arin was sitting with his arms crossed and a smug little smirk on his face. Jack was immediately wary of Arin’s posture, worrying that he may be under scrutiny for some reason. Mark apologized for needing to leave them to discuss things on their own, but he had a class to teach and he couldn’t start late or the parents sitting in the lobby might not be very happy. He pointed to Jack and said he hopes to see him again, then promptly turned and ran back out to the middle of the floor to call his students out to join him. Jack watched as they all bowed and made their way onto the matts, some more energetic and bouncy than others.

“You’re definitely coming back, aren’t you?” Arin asked, that ridiculous smirk still stuck on his face. Jack tensed up a little, narrowing his eyes at Arin.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because I was watching, and I saw you get all flustered.” Arin chuckled as Jack’s face went red again. “There’s no shame in being attracted to him, he’s a good lookin’ dude. But I’d seriously suggest you don’t make a decision based on that alone.”

“I uh, no obviously I wouldn’t…” Jack scrubbed at the back of his neck, feeling an overwhelming desire to run away.

“Good.” Arin grinned and passed Jack some paperwork to fill out. “Because he’s not exactly available.”

“Oh… A-are you and him..?” Jack muttered, feeling like an asshole suddenly. More so, he could feel the weight of disappointment settling heavy in the pit of his stomach. He should have known that there was no chance. He wasn’t even sure why it should matter to him so much, he hardly knew anything about Mark anyway.

Arin raised a brow, chuckling softly. “No, definitely not. He’s just… not gay.” Arin punctuated those last two words with air quotes. “I’m in no place to put labels on other people, but I have my theories. Believe me, I’m rooting for bi.”

“Oh.” Jack chewed his lip, unsure of how else to respond to something like that. He’d never been in such an odd position before.

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” Arin asked, seeming genuinely in awe. Jack wondered if he was over exaggerating for effect or if that was really how he acted all the time.

“No… Why would I be jealous?”

“Hey man, look, I would be, too.” Arin shrugged. “But I think—“

The door between the office and the main room opened slowly and Mark poked his head through. All the kids in his class were stopped and staring, some had even wandered over to peer through the glass. Jack was incredibly confused.

“Uh, hey.” Mark started, licking his lips. He looked a little nervous. “My students are very curious about you,” he said to Jack, a slight blush tinting his cheeks. “They were wondering where you’re from. Because of the accent.. and uh… the green hair.”

“What, you wanna’ do show and tell?” Arin asked, laughing. Mark shot him a look and huffed, but looked back to Jack and asked if it would be too much trouble to just ease their curiosity so they can move on with the class.

Jack shrugged and said he had time, but on the inside he was a mess of nerves. Mark got the most adorable little smile on his face and suddenly Jack felt twice as nervous. He followed Mark out onto the floor, hands in his pockets. The kids were staring at him with wide eyes, with the exception of a couple who were too distracted to pay him any mind. Before he could even think to introduce himself, the kid from before, Casey, started spewing out questions.

“Why do you talk funny? How are you so tall? Is your hair really like that? What’s your favorite color?”

Mark held up a finger to his lips to shush the kid. They looked up at him with their mouth agape, then nodded and snapped their mouth shut. All eyes were on Jack, then. He did his best to answer all of their questions, feeling incredibly out of place. At one point he glanced to the window into the lobby, expecting all the parents to look annoyed, but most were preoccupied with their phones and crossword puzzles, and those who were paying attention seemed just as interested as the kids did. A glance towards where Arin was sat in the office revealed the man leaning back in his chair listening to him talk. Jack wasn’t sure if he felt more nervous at having so many people paying attention to him or flattered that they were even interested.

“Is that all..?” Jack asked quietly, looking to the kids before him who all seemed to be satisfied with his answers.

“I have one last question,” Mark said. Jack raised a brow at him. “Can I get your number?”

Jack felt his face flush as a few of the children began to giggle and ooh at them. Mark had a shy little smile on his face that made Jack’s heartbeat stutter. Jack nodded, somewhat in awe of the situation. Mark’s smile grew, teeth showing. He ran to get a pen from the little cabinet by the wall, and Arin handed him a sticky note through the door as well. Jack quickly scribbled his number down and gave it back to Mark with a slightly trembling hand.

Mark asked the children to all say thank you, and a small chorus of “thank you Jack!” resounded from the group. “Thanks for satisfying their curiosity,” Mark said, placing a hand upon Jack’s shoulder. “And for the… this.” He wiggled the post-it between his fingers, and he looked to be in wonderment of it. He pulled his hand away slowly, fingertips dragging along the length Jack’s arm.

Jack was a little too flustered to say much besides a whispered, “no problem.”

Mark lead him back to the office and at the doorway he promised to call. Jack just nodded, too confused to find words. Mark jogged back out to continue teaching the class, but before they began again the kids all waved and called out a goodbye to Jack. He waved back at them, feeling completely in awe.

“What the hell?” Jack whispered under his breath once he’d turned away. Arin was staring at him, a strange and unreadable expression on his face. Jack felt slightly threatened by it. “What? Are _you_ jealous?”

“No…” Arin grumbled. “I mean yeah, a little. But hey, at least it’s looking like I was right.”

**Author's Note:**

> I found myself feeling renewed interest in this fic, so... hope for another chapter, but don't expect much.  
> Also, I'm considering adding some people, and possibly some interesting relationship dynamics.  
> And very likely some smut, but we'll see....


End file.
